- Geiger, Zachary A;
- Fujiwara, Kurt M;
- Singh, Kevin;
- Senaratne, Ruwan;
- Rajagopal, Shankari V;
- Lipatov, Mikhail;
- Shimasaki, Toshihiko;
- Driben, Rodislav;
- Konotop, Vladimir V;
- Meier, Torsten;
- Weld, David M
We report the observation and characterization of position-space Bloch oscillations using cold atoms in a tilted optical lattice. While momentum-space Bloch oscillations are a common feature of optical lattice experiments, the real-space center-of-mass dynamics are typically unresolvable. In a regime of rapid tunneling and low force, we observe real-space Bloch oscillation amplitudes of hundreds of lattice sites, in both ground and excited bands. We demonstrate two unique capabilities enabled by tracking of Bloch dynamics in position space: measurement of the full position-momentum phase-space evolution during a Bloch cycle, and direct imaging of the lattice band structure. These techniques, along with the ability to exert long-distance coherent control of quantum gases without modulation, may open up new possibilities for quantum control and metrology.